Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Jump over to Engadget and watch the video they've posted of the newly-announced HTC Hero, an Android-based smartphone. Look at what HTC has done in terms of porting a version of TouchFlo from Windows Mobile over to Android - but also pay attention to the apps they've added and improved. Now picture those changes and improvements flowing back to future Windows Mobile devices. Between all of the customs apps that HTC has slowly but surely built up (photo viewer, music player, skinned browser, weather app, etc.) and the UI of TouchFlo, Windows Mobile is becoming nothing more than plumbing....which should terrify Microsoft. If the OS is just plumbing, then HTC could switch to whatever OS the wish on a given device. HTC is Microsoft's biggest smartphone partner - so what does it mean to Microsoft when their biggest partner is working to undermine the user interface of their operating system? Read more...

"Spb Software, a leading maker of mobile software, releases Spb Mobile Shell 3.0, the next-generation user interface for Windows phones. According to Handango Yardstick, Spb Mobile Shell was the world's number one bestselling application of 2008 among all mobile platforms. Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 accounts for two different smartphone use scenarios: at work and at play. The application offers distinctive 'professional' and 'lifestyle' desktops, integration of picture contacts with Facebook, account-sensitive email indicators, handsome time and weather screens, widgets, responsive kinetic scrolling, signature 3D animation engine, and other appealing assets that change the way a Windows phone is used altogether."

Spb Software has released v3.0 of its ever-popular UI for Windows Mobile, and it adds some impressive features such as widgets, Facebook integration, a 3D carousel with hardware acceleration support, and Professional and Lifestyle home screens. Interested in trying or buying? Head over to our affiliate software store. If you're a registered user of v2.x, the upgrade is available at a discounted price of $14.95, or free if you purchased it within the last 90 days.

"While the layout remains the same and the icons are in the exact same place, they have been enlarged and the actual honeycomb outline (hexagons around each icon) is gone. Furthermore, scrolling up or down no longer means going all the way to the top or all the way to the bottom: the second the finger leaves the screen, scrolling will stop."

You're either going to love or hate the changes made to Windows Mobile 6.5's honeycomb UI. If you've forgotten what the previous version looked like, take a gander at our screenshot thread posted back in February. Now, looking at the image above, you'll notice that the latest version no longer sports hexagonal outlines, yet the hexagonal layout remains. It's a double-edged sword, because while visual clutter has been reduced, it becomes less apparent to uninformed users that these zigzagging rows actually represent a hexagonal layout, in addition to why it was adopted, prompting them to question whether such ocular trauma is really necessary.

That aside, Microsoft has made noticeable usability and performance tweaks to Windows Mobile 6.5 on the whole. It's definitely looking smoother and shinier than ever before.